Device and method to accurately and easily assemble glass slides

ABSTRACT

Embodiments provide a slide assembly device having a static tooling base which is statically and solidly affixed to a base such as a table and a moveable tooling arm that is rotatable about a hinge connected to the static tooling base, so that moveable tooling arm rotates about the hinge in a manner similar to a book cover opening and closing. The embodiments further provide an upper slide chuck that is removably attachable to the moveable tooling arm and a lower slide receiver that is removably attachable to the static tooling base. The upper slide chuck is configured to hold an experimental slide via a vacuum mechanism to engagedly hold the experimental slide to the upper slide chuck while the moveable tooling arm is rotated about the hinge from an open-book position to a closed-book position.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 national phase application ofPCT/US 12/51400 (WO 2013/026013), filed on Aug. 17, 2012, entitled“Device and Method to Accurately and Easily Assemble Glass Slides”,which application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 61/525,056, filed Aug. 18, 2011, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to laboratorydevices and more specifically to systems and methods for the preparationand assembly of slide arrays for further experimentation.

SUMMARY OF THE EMBODIMENTS

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a device acceptsa slide array that is to be assembled. A book-like hinged device can beconstructed such that two surfaces with location points are exposed tofacilitate the loading of two separate slides. One leaf of the book-likedevice is constructed such that it is a fixed mounting surface placedupon a bench top or other such piece of furniture. The other leaf of thebook-like device is moveable from a fully open configuration to a fullclosed configuration, approximately 180 degrees of motion. Upon closingthe hinge, the action brings two slides together in an accurate,repeatable, and easily managed manner. In the preferred configuration, avacuum chuck on the moveable leaf of the book-like device holds amoveable slide firmly in place prior to its placement on top of a fixedslide. A spring loaded catch on the upper, moveable portion of thedevice can also maintain a hold on a slide during operation. The vacuumis applied on command of the operator. The closing of the book-likedevice brings the moving slide and the fixed slide into close but notintimate contact. Once the operator releases the vacuum upon command,the two slides are brought into final, resting position with a minimumof impact.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the slide arrayis to be assembled inside of a separate carrier to allow furtherprocessing. The fixed slide is to be assembled inside of the carrier andthen placed on a tooled spot on the fixed leaf of the book-like device.Further processing can include the application of an additional carrieron the top slide and the addition of a screw-type clamp to fixate theslide array.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the slidesdescribed herein are composed of a transparent glass. The invention isnot limited to the size of glass slide normally encountered in normallaboratory operations. The slides can be of a large variety of sizes andshapes. The slides need not be of identical sizes, smaller slides can beplaced on a larger slide or vice versa. The slides need not be composedof transparent glass, other materials such as metals or plastics can beaccurately assembled using the herein described device.

Various modifications and additions can be made to the exemplaryembodiments discussed without departing from the scope of the presentinvention. For example, while the embodiments described above refer toparticular features, the scope of this invention also includedembodiments having different combination of features and embodimentsthat do not include all of the above described features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, according tothe embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with aHybridization chamber base installed in the loading position, accordingto the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with ahybridization gasket slide loaded into the Hybridization chamber base,according to the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with anexperimental slide loaded into the vacuum chuck on the moveable arm,according to the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with thevacuum producing cylinder depressed, according to the embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with thevacuum producing cylinder extended after release, producing a vacuumunder the experimental slide, according to the embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with themoveable arm partly rotated into the slide dropping position, accordingto the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with themoveable arm further deployed into the slide dropping position,according to the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with themoveable arm in its final position prior to the release of theexperimental slide, according to the embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a detailed view of an accurate slide assembly device100, with the experimental slide still held on the vacuum chuck slightlyabove the hybridization gasket slide just prior to final placement,according to the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an accurate slide assembly device 100, with theexperimental slide and the hybridization gasket slide in contact afterthe release of the vacuum in the vacuum chuck, according to theembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities ofingredients, dimensions reaction conditions and so forth used in thespecification and claims are to be understood as being modified in allinstances by the term “about.”

In this application and the claims, the use of the singular includes theplural unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, use of “or”means “and/or” unless stated otherwise. Moreover, the use of the term“including,” as well as other forms, such as “includes” and “included,”is not limiting. Also, terms such as “element” or “component” encompassboth elements and components comprising one unit and elements andcomponents that comprise more than one unit unless specifically statedotherwise.

With reference to FIG. 1, the Accurate Slide Assembly Device (ASAD) 100consists of a base 101 whereby the static slide assembly tooling base102 is solidly affixed in place, according to the embodiments of thepresent invention. Attached to the tooling base 102 is the moveable arm103 via hinge 105 that keeps the respective tooling points, lowerhybridization tooling area 108 and upper slide chuck 110, in accurateregistration or alignment with one another, according to the embodimentsof the present invention.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, Groove 107 (as shown in FIG. 1)allows the placement of a flexible seal 111 (as shown in FIG. 2), suchas an o-ring, into the upper slide chuck 110 to provide a vacuum to beheld in the vacuum space 106 once an experimental slide 113 (as shown inFIG. 4) has been placed in the upper slide chuck 110, according to theembodiments of the present invention. With reference to FIG. 4, hardtooling points 115 fix the experimental slide 113 in a tightlyconstrained location, according to the embodiments of the presentinvention.

With reference to FIG. 3, lower slide receiver 112 is the part of theHybridization chamber base fixture that receives the hybridizationgasket slide 114. Hybridization gasket slide 114 preferably includesseveral of chambers thereon in which material for processing may beadded. Each chamber may be surrounded by a gasket or a flexible seal(similar to the flexible seal 111 above). Once the hybridization gasketslide 114 has been prepared by adding material to the surface, theoperation of the ASAD 100 can commence, according to the embodiments ofthe present invention.

With reference again to FIG. 4, the experimental slide 113 is held inplace against the o-ring 111 (as shown in FIG. 2) after a vacuum isimposed in the open volume or vacuum space 106 (as shown in FIGS. 1 &2). In the present configuration, as illustrated in FIGS. 4-6, thevacuum is generated by manually pushing button 109 down on the springreturn cylinder 104 and then releasing the button 109 to allow thespring to drive the piston inside of the cylinder 104 upwards. Aflexible tube 117 connects the cylinder generated vacuum to the openvolume or vacuum space 106 (as shown in FIGS. 1 & 2) in the moveable arm103, according to the embodiments of the present invention.

With reference to FIGS. 7-9, once the experimental slide 113 is firmlyseated against the o-ring 111 (as shown in FIG. 2) and sufficientlyregistered in the hard tooling points 115, the moveable arm 103 can bearticulated by rotation and the experimental slide 113 can be placedover the hybridization gasket slide 114 and inside of the lower slidereceiver 112, according to the embodiments of the present invention. Themoveable slide (e.g., experimental slide 113 in this embodiment) islocated in a controlled position so that as the slides (e.g.,experimental slide 113 and hybridization gasket slide 114 in thisembodiment) are brought into close proximity with each other, there willbe no interference with the removable tooling (e.g., lower slidereceiver 112 in this embodiment) or the stationary slide (e.g.,hybridization gasket slide 114 in this embodiment). This location isprovided in the present, preferred configuration by raised surfaces thatare carefully designed to press against the periphery of the moveableslide, without interfering with the rest of the tooling or the fixedslide.

With reference to FIGS. 10 & 11, the experimental slide 113 can then bereleased by depressing the button 109 (as shown in FIGS. 1-9) andallowing the cylinder spring to drive the cylinder 104 to its neutralstate. This action causes the vacuum to be released to atmosphericpressure and the experimental slide 113 falls onto the hybridizationgasket slide 114 under the force of gravity, according to theembodiments of the present invention.

With reference again to FIG. 10, the small distance 118 between theexperimental slide 113 and the hybridization gasket slide 114 allows theeventual placement of the experimental slide 113 and the hybridizationgasket slide 114 (as illustrated in FIG. 11) to be gentle andnon-disruptive event, according to the embodiments of the presentinvention. In this embodiment, the distance 118 is preferably, but notlimited to, a distance on the order of about 1 millimeter or less.

With reference once more to FIG. 1, the grooves 116 that are placed instatic slide assembly tooling base 102 are present to allow a clamp (notshown) to be applied onto a stack of hybridization base, hybridizationgasket slide, printed slide and the hybridization chamber top in orderto fixate the two slides (as shown in FIG. 11) one on top of the otherand held in place by the hybridization top in order to facilitatefurther processing, according to the embodiments of the presentinvention. Once gravity has brought the upper slide (i.e., experimentalslide 113) into contact with the lower slide (i.e., hybridization gasketslide 114), it is possible to clamp the slides together withoutdisturbing the orientation thereof. The device may now be used torepeatably fixate other pairs of slides.

The Accurate Slide Assembly Device (ASAD) 100 is intended to take afirst prepared or otherwise unused slide (including, but not limited to,experimental slide 113) and place it in close proximity in a parallelattitude to a second prepared or otherwise unused slide (including, butnot limited to, hybridization gasket slide 114). Prior to positioning ineither upper slide chuck 110 or the lower slide receiver 112, either ofthe first and second slides may be used or unused, prepared orunprepared, already processed or not yet processed.

In the above-described embodiment, vacuum was provided using theassembly—comprising the manually actuated button 109 and spring returncylinder 104—that is connected to the o-ring-lined upper slide chuck 110via flexible tube 117. This, however, is not the only method ofsupplying a vacuum to the ASAD 100. Other sources of vacuum include, butare not limited to, an external source that can be piped to theinstrument, an on-board source that can be generated with a bulbcommonly found in laboratories used for operating pipettes, and an aircylinder that is manually operated to provide a sufficient vacuum topull the slide against an o-ring. The required vacuum pressure is on theorder of inches of water (or about 2.5 to 25 mbar).

For the above-described embodiment, releasing the vacuum to atmosphericpressure may be accomplished via use of one of numerous valving optionsthat are known to those skilled in the art.

In the above-described embodiment, the device is manually operated, butthe device may be configured to operate robotically in ways known tothose skilled in the art. In the above-described embodiment, a singlehinge 105 is used, because it is the easiest configuration, but acombination of hinges and slides may also be built into the device toaccomplish the same or similar task. Either slides, hinges, or both fitthe task.

Although the above-described embodiment utilizes a hybridization chamberbase, the device need not have a hybridization chamber base, but maysimply be used to assemble the slides.

In some embodiments, the upper slide chuck 110 may be configured to beadjustably shifted along any direction within a plane that is parallelto the surface of the moveable arm 103, in order to allow for ease ofalignment between the experimental slide 113 and hybridization gasketslide 114 when the moveable is rotated to a position above the statictooling base.

Various embodiments of the disclosure could also include permutations ofthe various elements recited in the claims as if each dependent claimwas a multiple dependent claim incorporating the limitations of each ofthe preceding dependent claims as well as the independent claims. Suchpermutations are expressly within the scope of this disclosure.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described withreference to a number of embodiments, it would be understood by thoseskilled in the art that changes in the form and details may be made tothe various embodiments disclosed herein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention and that the various embodimentsdisclosed herein are not intended to act as limitations on the scope ofthe claims. All references cited herein are incorporated in theirentirety by reference.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slide assembly device for repeatably andaccurately aligning and assembling a first slide and a second slide intoan assembled slide for subsequent processing of the assembled slide, thedevice comprising: a static tooling base having a first surface; aconnection module; a moveable tooling base that is operably connectedwith the static tooling base via the connection module, said moveabletooling base having a second surface; wherein the moveable tooling baseis configured to rotate about the connection module from a firstposition that is parallel, and in line, with the static tooling base toa second position that is substantially 180 degrees with respect to thefirst position, such that the second surface becomes parallel with, andoriented to face, the first surface; wherein the static tooling base isconfigured to hold the first slide on the first surface; wherein themoveable tooling base is configured to hold the second slide on thesecond surface, such that the second slide remains held on the secondsurface when the moveable tooling base is rotated from the firstposition to the second position; and wherein when the moveable toolingbase is in the second position, the slide assembly device is configuredto release the second slide onto the first slide.
 2. The slide assemblydevice as in claim 1, further comprising a base to which the statictooling base is affixed.
 3. The slide assembly device as in claim 2,wherein the base is mounted on a mounting.
 4. The slide assembly deviceas in claim 1, wherein the connection module comprises a hinge.
 5. Theslide assembly device as in claim 1, further comprising a first slidereceiver that is removably attachable to the first surface of the statictooling base, wherein the first slide receiver comprises a thirdsurface, and wherein the first slide receiver is configured to hold thefirst slide on the third surface.
 6. The slide assembly device as inclaim 5, further comprising a hybridization chamber base affixed on thefirst surface of the static tooling base, wherein the first slidereceiver is configured to be part of the hybridization chamber base. 7.The slide assembly device as in claim 5, further comprising a secondslide receiver that is removably attachable to the second surface of themoveable tooling base, wherein the second slide comprises a fourthsurface, and wherein the second slide receiver is configured to hold thesecond slide on the fourth surface, such that the second slide remainsheld on the fourth surface when the moveable tooling base is rotatedfrom the first position to the second position.
 8. The slide assemblydevice as in claim 7, further comprising a vacuum source, wherein thevacuum source is configured to generate a vacuum sufficient to hold thesecond slide on the fourth surface when the moveable tooling base isrotated from the first position to the second position, and configuredto release the vacuum to atmospheric pressure when the moveable toolingbase is in the second position, so as to release the second slide ontothe first slide by force of gravity.
 9. The slide assembly device as inclaim 8, wherein the fourth surface has a groove thereon, and whereinthe second slide receiver further comprises: a vacuum opening in thefourth surface, wherein the groove forms a closed path around saidvacuum opening, and wherein a flexible seal is fitted within the groove;a vacuum connection to which the vacuum source is connected; a vacuumpath under the fourth surface, said vacuum path being configured betweenthe vacuum opening and the vacuum connection, wherein the second slidereceiver is configured to hold the second slide against the flexibleseal on the fourth surface, using the vacuum generated by the vacuumsource, when the moveable tooling base is rotated from the firstposition to the second position.
 10. The slide assembly device as inclaim 1, wherein the slide assembly device is configured such that, whenthe moveable tooling base is in the second position, a distance betweenthe first slide and the second slide is about 1 mm or less.
 11. Theslide assembly device as in claim 1, wherein the static tooling basecomprises extraction grooves thereon that are configured to allow anextraction device to be positioned between the static tooling base andthe assembled slide in order to remove the assembled slide from theslide assembly device.
 12. A method of repeatably and accuratelyaligning and assembling a first slide and a second slide into anassembled slide for subsequent processing of the assembled slide, themethod comprising: providing a slide assembly device comprising: astatic tooling base having a first surface; a connection module; amoveable tooling base that is operably connected with the static toolingbase via the connection module, said moveable tooling base having asecond surface; wherein the moveable tooling base is configured torotate about the connection module from a first position that isparallel, and in line, with the static tooling base to a second positionthat is substantially 180 degrees with respect to the first position,such that the second surface becomes parallel with, and oriented toface, the first surface; wherein the static tooling base is configuredto hold the first slide on the first surface; and wherein the moveabletooling base is configured to hold the second slide on the secondsurface; positioning the first slide on the static tooling base;positioning the second slide on the moveable tooling base; causing theslide assembly device to hold the second slide on the second surface,such that the second slide does not move with respect to the secondsurface even when the moveable tooling base is moved; rotating themoveable tooling base about the connection module from the firstposition to the second position; and causing the slide assembly deviceto release the second slide onto the first slide when the moveabletooling base is in the second position.
 13. The method as in claim 12,further comprising mounting the static tooling base on a base, prior tothe steps of positioning the first slide on the static tooling base andpositioning the second slide on the moveable tooling base.
 14. Themethod as in claim 13, further comprising mounting the base on amounting, prior to mounting the static tooling base on the base.
 15. Themethod as in claim 12, further comprising removably attaching a firstslide receiver to the first surface of the static tooling base, prior tothe step of positioning the first slide on the static tooling base,wherein the first slide receiver includes a third surface and whereinthe first slide receiver is configured to hold the first slide on thethird surface.
 16. The method as in claim 15, wherein the slide assemblydevice further comprises a hybridization chamber base affixed on thefirst surface of the static tooling base, and wherein the first slidereceiver is configured to be part of the hybridization chamber base, themethod further comprising processing the second slide on thehybridization chamber base during assembly of the assembled slide. 17.The method as in claim 15, further comprising removably attaching asecond slide receiver to the second surface of the moveable toolingbase, prior to the step of positioning the second slide on the moveabletooling base, wherein the second slide receiver includes a fourthsurface and wherein the second slide receiver is configured to hold thesecond slide on the fourth surface even when the moveable tooling baseis moved.
 18. The method as in claim 17, wherein the slide assemblydevice further comprises a vacuum source that is connected to the secondslide receiver and that is configured to generate a vacuum sufficient tohold the second slide on the fourth surface, wherein the step of causingthe slide assembly device to hold the second slide on the second surfaceincludes causing the vacuum source to generate the vacuum in order tohold the second slide on the fourth surface during the step of rotatingthe moveable tooling base, and wherein the step of causing the slideassembly device to release the second slide includes causing the vacuumsource to release the vacuum to atmospheric pressure.